The present invention relates to the technical field of electrical interconnection combs used especially, but not exclusively, for ensuring interconnection of connection units for power cables.
Thus, an electrical interconnection comb is used to connect several electrical conductors and to bring them to the same potential. An interconnection comb according to the invention makes it possible more particularly to interconnect busbars in which slots are made, each being intended to take one tooth of an interconnection comb.
It is known to connect together several junction units placed one beside the other in order to guarantee the same potential at all the connections made in these junction units. A junction unit generally comprises an insulating casing in which a connection device connected to a busbar is mounted. To interconnect the units, a specific opening is generally provided in the insulating casing of the junction unit and, opposite this opening, a slot is made in the busbar so as to take a tooth of an interconnection comb.
Documents DE-44 00 469 and DE-44 11 306 describe interconnection devices comprising plugs, each plug having a pair of parallel connection branches which are separated by a longitudinal slot and are deformed transversely, in opposite directions, in order to define an elastically deformable connection region.
Such interconnection combs are generally produced by the cutting-out, flat, of a metal blank and by stamping the cut blank so as to shape the interconnection teeth. In this regard, it should be emphasized that the slot which separates the connection branches of each tooth is obtained by tearing-off the constituent material of the tooth when forming the teeth.
The interconnection combs thus produced are generally satisfactory and suitably fulfill their interconnection function during the first several times that they are used. However, it has been found that the quality of the electrical contact progressively deteriorates with repeated comb insertion and extraction operations so that the combs according to the prior art can no longer guarantee perfect interconnection of the devices that they connect.
There is therefore obviously a need to have an interconnection comb which obviates the abovementioned drawbacks and which has very good electrical connection characteristics even after a large number of insertions and extractions.
In order to achieve this objective, the invention relates to an electrical interconnection comb comprising a link bar from which parallel contact plugs extend, characterized in that each contact plug is in the form of a tooth pierced by at least one longitudinal window delimiting at least two connection branches which are parallel and deformed transversely in opposite directions one with respect to another and the adjacent edges of which, defined by the parallel edges of the window, are located at a certain distance from one another.
Moreover, the link bar and the various contact plugs of the comb are made as a single piece, thereby resulting in a simple structure. The transverse deformations of the connection branches in two opposed directions make it possible to increase the width of each tooth in the direction transverse to the plane of the interconnection comb. To make an electrical contact, this transverse width must be at least equal to the width of the slot into which the tooth must be inserted. The elasticity of the constituent material of each tooth allows it to be fitted into a slot and extracted therefrom by elastic deformation.
From the standpoint of its strength and reliability, it should be noted that since that end of each tooth for being inserted into the slot in a busbar is straight and parallel to the link bar, there is no risk of the former being damaged when the tooth is being inserted into the corresponding slot in a busbar.
According to one embodiment of this comb, each tooth is in the form of a metal blade of rectangular overall shape whose end edges lying on the same side as the link bar and on the opposite side lie in the same plane.
Advantageously, each tooth has two longitudinal parallel slots delimiting three branches, the central branch of which is deformed in one direction while the two side branches are deformed in the opposite direction.
This arrangement is beneficial in so far as it balances the transverse deformations on either side of the tooth, thus preventing any risk of the latter twisting.
According to another characteristic of the invention, the longitudinal window, separating two adjacent connection branches of each tooth of the comb, does not run into the free end of the tooth.
This advantageous characteristic of the invention prevents any inopportune splaying which could occur between the connection branches should there be no link between their ends, as is liable to occur in the interconnect on combs according to the prior art.
The invention also relates to a process for manufacturing an interconnection comb which consists
cutting out a metal blank in order to delimit the link bar, the teeth and the longitudinal slots provided in the teeth;
bending the central part of the branches of the teeth in two opposed directions, in order to deform the adjacent branches in opposite directions one with respect to another, while the free end of the teeth is straight and continues to lie in the plane of the link bar.
Various other characteristics of the invention will become apparent from the description below, given with reference to the appended drawings which illustrate a non-limiting embodiment of an interconnection comb according to the invention.